216 wifi hotspots operational in Gram Panchayats: Union Minister Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan

Nellore: Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed in as many as 1,570 Gram Panchayats in the state under BharatNet Phase-I, but only 216 among them are now operational.

Union Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan disclosed this while answering a question from a member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy on non-functioning of hotspots in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

According to the Minister, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited (a Special Purpose Vehicle under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology), was entrusted with the task of providing Wi-Fi Access Points/Services with government funding for Phase-I Gram Panchayats.

The organisation has informed that 1,354 Wi-Fi hotspots were facing technical issues of availability of switches and internet backhaul.

Pursuant to lockdown and movement restrictions due to Covid-19, the progress of making Wi-Fi hotspots operational has been affected.

All efforts are being made in coordination with all stakeholders to make more Gram Panchayats operational.

To another question of Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy seeking information on whether AP is the second highest data consuming state in the country, the minister said the total wireless data usage in Andhra Pradesh was 8,07,504 TB in May 2021 and is not the second highest in the country.